The Beck Group CASE STUDY. Challenge. Solution

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1 CASE STUDY The Beck Group Challenge The Beck Group had too many software solutions and a lack of standardization, which led to inefficiencies, less visibility, and a risk for building with the wrong information in hand. Solution The company wanted a robust construction management system capable of managing multiple aspects of a project, was collaborative and mobile. The company turned to Procore to get its remote field teams connected to its offices across numerous regions. Beck rolled out Procore through a threemonth test flight. Within a short time, Beck experienced a boost in productivity and got rid of duplicative software.

2 2 CASE STUDY: THE BECK GROUP The Beck Group, a construction and architecture firm with a vast 125-year history, knows that maintaining a successful business means being proactive and innovative. When it came time to reevaluate current day-to-day processes, Beck wanted to take a deeper look into vital business operations and the technology used to support them. NS HomeShopping Mixed-Use Development, Sungnam SK Brian Filkins, Beck s Operational Technology Manager, was tasked with investigating pain points found across all company projects and coming up with a solution to address them. He set out on a six-month investigative quest, visiting each one of Beck s seven regional offices in North America and Mexico, and their respective projects. Two primary pain points we came across were lack of standardization, even from project to project something as simple as a file and folder structure being different, recalls Brian. Then too much software. We had some projects using six to eight different software platforms and handling data multiple times. This led to inefficiencies, less visibility, and a risk for building with the wrong information in hand. What Beck needed was more standardization and less software solutions. The company wanted a robust construction management system capable of managing multiple aspects of a project, yet easy to use and integrate. Brian immediately began vetting potential construction software applications and whittled it down to five. We did a pretty thorough feature comparison analysis of those different platforms, said Brian. With all the process enhancements and features available, Procore really seemed like the top platform out there. The Test Flight In June 2016, Beck rolled out an in-house test run. Beck s Operational Technology team was the first to try out Procore. We really got into the weeds for the different modules. We had many conversations with Procore s product development team and then down to the project teams, recalled Brian. They were extremely receptive to our comments and feedback the whole time that was some of the criteria we were judging Procore by.

3 CASE STUDY: THE BECK GROUP 3 Real World Launch Two months later, Beck took Procore to live jobsites. They pushed Procore out to AT&T projects in its hometown of Dallas as well as Houston and San Antonio, and a flagship integrated project in Denver, Colorado where Beck was the Architect and Contractor. The diverse projects ran the gamut between replacing mechanical equipment to the construction of a new building. Procore users included key stakeholders, from project managers to superintendents. We were able to startup 30 projects quickly and get them up and running within the course of a week, said Brian. Ease of use, especially for our superintendents out in the field on their ipads, made adoption very quick and easy. Efficiency Boost The company began to see increased efficiencies across numerous projects during the test flight period. The project teams at AT&T had some fragmented processes, Brian explained. The mobility solution, that s just something that a lot of our project teams lacked and was a huge pain point. Just that collaboration between the field side and the office being able to get the RFIs, submittals, and drawings out to the guys in the field as well as the field team being able to create issues and observations and send back to the office was great, added Brian. Especially for the remote projects where they re not in close proximity with each other. Procore also allowed Beck to eliminate two primary software platforms that had previously resulted in redundant processes. Reunion Tower GeO-Deck, Dallas TX

4 4 CASE STUDY: THE BECK GROUP Increased Productivity The next significant Procore rollout involved a Beck design-build project, which means both the construction and architect arms of the company were leading the build. They were fairly tuned in with using both Newforma and BIM 360 for standard processes in the past, said Brian. Almost immediately, they were proficient with Procore, particularly the meeting minutes module. The design and build teams were critical in providing additional feedback and establishing new processes. As the test flight continued, Beck was able to see increased productivity across their project teams. Our Austin office, for example, subcontracted out their drawing management to a third-party company that would hyperlink and do the RFIs. That cost over $100,000 a year, said Brian. With Procore s capability to manage the documents, that cost was virtually eliminated. Test Flight Lessons Going through the test flight was a great way to try out the functionality of Procore. It also allowed the company to introduce Procore to its potential users well ahead of time. We didn t want this to be a corporate push down to our users, explained Brian. We were adamant that it would be a process-driven approach. We didn t want to go out there and find the latest and greatest software, buy it and then figure out how to use it. Procore s training sessions, feedback, open lines of communication and overall culture were critical in the decision-making process. This was one of those intangible features that we used to assess Procore. There client-centric approach and listening to our feedback is incredibly important, said Brian. If you look at some of the other larger software companies out there, they don t care about you. It was a very positive experience overall. University of North Texas University Union, Denton TX

5 CASE STUDY: THE BECK GROUP 5 We were able to startup 30 projects quickly and get them up and running within the course of a week. BRIAN FILKINS Operational Technology Manager